The mother of Kim Keon-hee, Choi Eun-soon, 79, will have her real estate put up for public auction. With 2.5 billion won in unpaid local administrative penalties and penalty surcharge, Choi ranks No. 1 nationwide.
According to Gyeonggi Province and Seongnam city on the 16th, Choi did not pay the overdue penalty surcharge by the deadline the previous day, the 15th. Earlier, after the list of large delinquent payers was disclosed on the local government tax filing and payment system "WETAX" on the 19th of last month, Seongnam city notified Choi that if she did not pay the overdue penalty surcharge by the 15th of this month, the city would proceed with a public auction of the seized real estate.
Choi did not pay a 2.505 billion won penalty surcharge in 2020 for violating the Act on the Registration of Real Estate under Actual Titleholder's Name. In 2013, during the process of purchasing land in Dochon-dong, Jungwon-gu, Seongnam, she violated the law by using a name-lending contract to buy it under a borrowed name. Choi filed a lawsuit to cancel the penalty surcharge, but in November last year the Supreme Court finalized the penalty surcharge disposition.
A Seongnam city official said, "We have seized real estate worth far more than the amount of the unpaid penalty surcharge," adding, "This afternoon we asked the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) to conduct a public auction." The official added, "Choi expressed an intention for installment payment, but since we do not know when she will pay, we decided to proceed with the public auction process for now," and said, "If she pays in installments, we will review the amount and decide whether to halt the auction."
Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Dong-yeon said during a field tour of the local economy in Yangpyeong county on the 4th, "Choi's delinquency is very egregious. Together with Seongnam city, we issued a final notice," adding, "If she does not pay the penalty surcharge, we will certainly begin procedures for a public auction of her real estate to uphold tax justice."